Isidor Kaufmann ( hu, Kaufman(n) Izidor, he, איזידור קאופמן; 22 March 1853 in Arad – 1921 in Vienna) was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

painter of

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

ish themes. Having devoted his career to

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

, he traveled throughout

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, wh ...

in search of scenes of Jewish, often

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

life. The artist's life and work was featured by the Jewish Museum Vienna 1995 in a show curated by Tobias G. Natter.

Life and career

Born to

Hungarian Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

parents in Arad,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

(presently in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

), Kaufmann was originally destined for a commercial career, and could fulfill his wish to become a painter only later in life. In 1875, he went to the '' Landes-Zeichenschule'' in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, where he remained for one year. In 1876, he left for

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, but being refused admission to the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institut ...

there, he became a pupil of the portrait painter Joseph Matthäus Aigner. He then entered the ''Malerschule'' of the Vienna Academy, and later became a private pupil of Professor Trenkwald. His most noted paintings refer to the life of

Jews in Poland The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the l ...

. They include: ''Der Besuch des

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

'' (the original of which was owned by

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (emp ...

Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

, in the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal ...

), ''Schachspieler'', ''Der Zweifler'' (for which he received the gold medal at the '' Weltausstellung'' of 1873). Kaufmann's other honors include: the Baron Königswarter ''Künstler-Preis'', the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

of the Emperor of Germany, a gold medal of the International Exhibition at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and H ...

, and a medal of the third class at the Exposition Universelle in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. One of his most prominent students was Lazar Krestin. He married a cantor's daughter in 1882. They had five children. File:Isidor Kaufmann Portrait of a Yeshiva Boy.jpg, Kaufmann's ''Portrait of a Yeshiva Boy'' File:Isidor Kaufmann - Portrait of a Rabbi.jpg, Portrait of a Rabbi File:Kaufmann Day of Atonement.jpg, ''

Day of Atonement Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...

'', before 1907

References

* * Tobias G. Natter (Ed.): ''Rabbiner – Bücher – Talmudschüler. Bilder des Wiener Malers Isidor Kaufmann 1853–1921'', exhibition catalog, Jewish Museum Vienna, 1995 . * *

Alexander Kohut Alexander (Chanoch Yehuda) Kohut (April 22, 1842 – May 25, 1894) was a rabbi and orientalist. He belonged to a family of rabbis, the most noted among them being Rabbi Israel Palota, his great-grandfather, Rabbi Amram (called "The Gaon," who die ...

, ''Berühmte Israelitische Männer und Frauen'' *
Ileana-Rodica Dinculescu, "Teme în pictura unor artişti evrei din Europa Modernă (până la mişcarea de avangardă)" ("Themes in the Art of Jewish Painters in Modern Europe– Before the Avant-Garde Movement")
at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely ...

site
Isidor Kaufmann (1853-1921)
1853 births 1921 deaths People from Arad, Romania Romanian Jews Austro-Hungarian Jews 19th-century Hungarian painters 20th-century Hungarian painters 19th-century Hungarian people 20th-century Hungarian people Jewish painters Hungarian male painters 19th-century Hungarian male artists 20th-century Hungarian male artists {{Jewish-hist-stub